Fairy Tales
by Silenced by Chronos
Summary: Sakura Mikan has loved Fairytales as a child, but life has been cruel to her and has stripped her of her belief in the knight in shining armor, and most of all her belief in happy endings. Will her prince show up to save her after all, or not? NxMxR; R&R!
1. Reality

**Author's Note: Mwahahaha, yes, I know, another story. I just felt like writing it so yeah. r&r!**

**Disclaimer: For the umpteenth time, I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

**

* * *

**

-

**Chapter One: Reality**

-

A woman with shoulder-length brown locks closed the hard covered book shut. On the cover was a picture of a blond girl with a blue ball gown and above that picture was written _Cinderella_.

"Okaa-san, will I find my prince when I grow up too?" a little girl with auburn hair asked excitedly.

"Yes, dear. In time, you'll find the right one." She kissed her head and tucked her in. "Now go to sleep now, princesses need their beauty sleep." The mother giggled and shut the lights off, leaving a young girl asleep in her bed.

"I love fairy tales. . ." murmured the sleeping brunette as she turned in her bed.

—————

"Ah!" A teenager with auburn hair and hazel eyes fell out of bed as her alarm went off. She tossed it to the wall and sighed as she grumpily got out of bed. _That's the third alarm this week._

This girl was Sakura Mikan, sixteen years old. She had learned by now that fairy tales didn't exist. There was no real happy ending to any story, and those so-called happy endings are made only because it's what people want to hear.

Well screw those who believed in fairy tales because no way in hell were they real. But Mikan had to learn the hard way. Her life was definitely no fairy tale, especially since her parents died in a plane crash when she was six. She was left alone, all by herself at such a young age and had to stay at an orphanage until she couldn't stand that damn place any longer and escaped. Now, she was living better than expected.

She managed an apartment with some money that she made on her own. But every now and then she would ask for help from her best friend, Imai Hotaru.

She stepped into the shower and basically everything there was strawberry scented: her shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap—everything. After around half an hour of scrubbing herself clean, she jumped out of the shower and got ready for school. How she hated that place.

Her uniform consisted of a purple checkered skirt, a white blouse and a purple necktie to match the skirt. She was also wearing the mandatory black shoes. She grabbed her bag and was off to school.

While approaching the school gates of Gakuen Alice, Mikan saw the person who she detested so much. Koizumi Luna. She stood there with her social-ladder-climbing friends, looking stupid and girly, as usual.

"Well if it isn't Sakura Mikan," Luna sneered.

But Mikan just punched her directly in the face without bothering to even look at her and passed by Luna. _I don't have time for this._

"Sakura! You b*tch, where do you think you're going?" She could hear Luna wailing as her friends tried to calm her down. Mikan sighed. _If fairy tales were real, then she would be the evil witch that my prince would defeat. ...Or she could be the dragon that the knight in shining armor slays. That works too._ She snickered at the thought. _Too bad fairy tales aren't real, _she reminded herself.

Mikan got into her classroom and tossed her bag on top of her desk. She slumped down on her chair and her eyes searched the room for her best friend. Actually, you could call Hotaru her only friend.

When Mikan just transferred to the academy, she didn't really bother to make any friends. But Hotaru, being her let's say, "unique" self, got closer to Mikan. She didn't know how she got close to the weird girl, but here they are now, best friends as if they've been together for such a long time already.

Hotaru wasn't there yet, and her eyes spotted those of a guy with dazzling ruby eyes and messy raven hair. Hyuuga Natsume. His necktie hung loosely around his neck and the top two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned. Nothing new. He was a very cold and anti-social guy, but girls swarmed around him every single day. Guys did too, but not as much as the girls. Maybe they did that because he had this cool image and looked really hot. Did I also mention that he was the successor to the famous Hyuuga Corporation? Well, now I did.

Next to him was a blond boy with cerulean blue eyes. He was more likely to be Mikan's prince charming. She's grown quite close to him for the past few months, and he was really sweet. She was more of his type. She smiled.

"Itai!" Mikan yelped, feeling her head get hit with a book.

"Baka, are you going to stare helplessly at Nogi Ruka all day?" A girl with short ebony hair and violet eyes sat on the chair next to Mikan's.

"Hotaru," the brunette blushed. "But he _is_ good-looking after all... And sweet... And kind... And... "

Hotaru rolled her eyes as Mikan went on and on about all these things about Nogi Ruka.

**CLiCK. CLiCK. **

"Hey!" Ruka half-yelled, rubbing his eyes with his hands because of the flash from Hotaru's camera. "What was that for?" He frowned, wanting an answer. But sadly, the poor guy was ignored and never got his answer.

"You like?" Hotaru grinned and showed Mikan the two shots of Ruka that she got on her digital camera.

Mikan's jaw dropped _slightly_ open. She closed her mouth. "Ho-ta-ru," she said with emphasis. A smiled slowly crept onto her lips. "I love you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Mikan reached her hand out to grab the camera.

"Ah ah ah," Hotaru kept the camera out of Mikan's reach and held out her other hand. "It's a thousand yen per picture."

Mikan sighed in defeat. _I'm not supposed to, but whatever. _Mikan took out a thousand yen from her wallet. "I just want the second picture." Mikan sighed again and gave the money to Hotaru. _Sometimes I wonder if this maniac girl is really my friend or if she just wants to make money off of me._

"Only one?" Hotaru raised an eyebrow.

"Are you giving me the other one for free?" Mikan's eyes twinkled.

"No." Hotaru replied flatly. "I'm going to sell it to some other girl." She had that evil grin on her face again.

_Hotaru. You're so cruel. _Mikan rested her head on top of her arms on her desk. She knew that the teacher was going to send in a substitute teacher again, like always. "I need a new job," Mikan said to no one in particular.

"Sakura!" a feminine voice shouted in frustration, slamming the doors of the classroom wide open. "Where is she?!"

"Here." Mikan said lazily and waved her hand around so that Luna could see where she was. "What do you want Koizumi?" She asked, just wanting Luna to shut up. She was so annoying, for God's sake! Stuck up b*tch...

"You punched my little pretty face..." Luna started to cry fake tears. Guys started swarming around her, trying to comfort her. "She... she," she said in between sobs, pointing at Mikan. Mikan rolled her eyes. _What a prima donna, _thought Mikan. "She punched my face... See?" Luna continued to sob, showing everyone that fake black eye that she made with make-up.

_I didn't even hit her that hard_. Mikan stared at Luna flatly.

"Hey you, girlie, you shouldn't mess with cute girls like Luna." A guy who was trying to act all tough stood in front of Mikan, waiting for a fight. _Oh boy, if I beat this girl up, then maybe Luna will go out with me. _The guy smiled inwardly. _But then again, I'd feel bad because well, she's a girl and she's pretty hot too... But, I guess I'll go with Luna. _He obviously didn't know who Sakura Mikan was. In fact, no one in her class knew anything about her except that she always kept to herself and that her only friend was Hotaru. A couple of guys thought that Mikan was pretty good-looking, but they didn't bother to ask her out because they didn't know how to approach her. As for the girls that wanted to befriend Mikan, well, they didn't know how to approach Mikan either.

Mikan stood up, her bangs looming over her eyes. "You want a fight? Is that it?" Mikan's voice sent chills down the guy's spine, but he didn't back off. Wrong move.

Luna, who was watching the whole scene smirked. She wanted Mikan to be beaten to a pulp. _Maybe that'll teach her to mess with me... _But Luna wasn't the only one who was watching carefully. A pair of crimson eyes watched Mikan's every move, but pretended to seem uninterested.

"Ruka, who's that girl making all that noise?" he asked, trying to sound irritated.

"Koizumi Luna," Ruka replied. He watched Mikan carefully; he was scared that something would happen to her.

Natsume growled. "Not that one. The other one, the one with brown hair."

"Oh, her name's Mikan. Sakura Mikan."

_Sakura Mikan? I've heard that name somewhere before, _he thought, peering back at the manga that he was reading. _I'd like to get to know that Sakura... Maybe I will... Sometime in the future..._

The guy lunged at Mikan, but she easily dodged him and hit his back. Hard. "I know three styles of martial arts. Wanna continue?" she asked, yawning.

"Why you..." The guy gritted his teeth together and charged at her again, throwing as many punches as he could at Mikan. None of them hit her, seeing as how she evaded them all with ease. The whole class watched the scene in shock. They never knew Mikan was like that. This wasn't anything new to Mikan though. And Hotaru. Mikan struck him once at the back of his neck and he fell.

Mikan dusted her hands together. "Learn some moves before you try and do something stupid like that again, m'kay?" She walked back to her seat calmly. "What?" She asked, seeing that basically the entire class was staring at her. _Ughhh, _she thought and placed her arms back on the table, resting her head on top of her arms as well. _This is going to be a longgg day._

As for Luna, well, she stomped out of the classroom and wiped the fake black eye of with some baby wipes from her bag. _I'll get you, Sakura... _She gritted her teeth and took out her anger on one of the guys that were following her.

Ruka got up from his seat and ran to Mikan. "Are you alright, Sakura?" He asked, concern evident in his voice. Mikan nodded and smiled at him. _Yes! He cares about me! _Mikan thought and she grinned inwardly.

Click, click. _Success. _Hotaru grinned, satisfied with the new pictures that she had just taken. The pictures were of Ruka and Mikan. _Wait 'til Mikan sees this. _Hotaru thought, starting to think of things that she could use Mikan for.

"That's good to hear," he smiled at her and began walking back to his seat. "Oh and Ruka," she said, "Call me by my first name, Mikan, not Sakura."

"Uhm, okay," he said quietly. _Mikan. I like saying that better than Sakura. _He smiled unconsciously and sat down next to Natsume. Natsume raised an eyebrow at Ruka. "You alright?" he asked. Ruka nodded. _Mikan... _The thought of just saying her name made him feel all tingly for some reason.

Mikan wanted to do the happy dance right now. _Ruka's concerned about me. _She smiled widely.

"Uhm, Sakura-san?" Two girls approached her. One had pink hair and jade green eyes, while the other had midnight blue hair and blue eyes.

"My name's Umenomiya Anna!" The pink haired one smiled widely.

"Ogasawara Nonoko. Nice to meet you," the other one said.

"Uhm, okay... I'm Sakura Mikan..." She arched an eyebrow at them. "So, what do you want with me?" The brunette asked innocently, a bit confused and tilted her head. She had never talked to them for the couple of months that she's been here.

"Silly," Anna started.

"We want to be you friends!" Nonoko finished Anna's sentence.

The brunette eyed them suspiciously. "Why?" She wanted to know why. Why would they want to befriend her now when they could of done that all those months ago.

"Well, you see..." Nonoko elbowed Anna, not knowing how to explain it to Mikan. "We've been wanting to be friends with you for quite some time now, but we just didn't know how to approach you..."

"Yeah," Nonoko butt in, "You seemed so distant, as if you wanted everyone to stay away from you."

"But we finally mustered up the courage to at least say hello to you!" Anna said enthusiastically. "So... Are you going to let us be your friends?" _Please say yes, please say yes. _Anna crossed her fingers.

"Sure," Mikan said plainly and looked around the room for Hotaru. _Where is that girl now? _Mikan thought. "Oh well," she murmured to no one in particular. _I bet she's up to something again... _The brunette sweat dropped at all the things that the inventor could do. She's an evil genius. How could someone so pretty like Hotaru be evil? Mikan sighed and walked out the classroom with her two new friends.

It was lunch time.

"So Mikan, you said that you knew three styles of martial arts?" Anna asked.

Nonoko added, "What are they?"

"Qigong, karate, and tae kwon do..." Mikan answered.

"You know Mikan, I have a hunch that we're gonna be really good friends!" Anna smiled.

_Yeah... _Mikan sweat dropped at the thought.

* * *

**Author's Note: Chappie one is done. So should I keep the story or delete it? Any comments or suggestions, feel free to tell me.**

**Review!**

**Flames are highly accepted.**

**-Twinkly**


	2. Hyuuga Natsume

**Author's Note: Yes, I know, it's been forever since I last updated this fan fiction. But it's summer vacation and I have practically nothing to do so yeah. I'm sorry for not updating sooner!! But anyways, I hope you like it. Here's chapter two!**

* * *

-

**Chapter Two: Hyuuga Natsume**

-

"Sakura!! Hurry up and serve the customers at table two and eight!!"

"Hai," Mikan said to her manager and put on a fake smile. _I hate you..._

Mikan was now working as a waitress at a restaurant, after school finished, of course. She finished putting on her uniform and came out of the employees' room. Her uniform was black and white, a somewhat short skirt, a white apron, and the usual, plain black and white uniform that waitresses use.

She approached table two with the fake smile still plastered on her face. _Oh great. _She frowned a bit after seeing her customers at table two. They were loud, obnoxious teenage boys. One of the types of customers that she hated to serve because whenever she had teenage boys to serve, they usually annoyed her and tried to hook up with her or something of the like.

"Good afternoon. I'm Sakura Mikan and I'll be your waitress this evening." She had the fake smile on again as she handed them the menus.

One of the guys whistle at her. "Damnnnn. You look hot in that uniform."

"Yeah, wanna leave this place and go somewhere with us?" another one said and somehow managed to slither his arm around her waist.

"I'm sorry, but I have work to do," she replied, and twitched her eyebrow. "Are you ready for me to take your order?"

"Nah, come back in a few minutes. We're not ready yet."

Mikan started to head off to the other table that she was supposed to serve when one of the guys grabbed her ass out of nowhere.

She smacked the guy's head with the remaining menus she had left. "I'll kill you," Mikan said icily while the manager rushed to the guy immediately. "Are you alright sir?" Mikan's manager asked the 'victim.' "Sakura! Go get some ice for this man and apologize to him immediately!"

"No. He was the one who touched me inappropriately," Mikan grunted.

"I said go!!" her manager yelled. She stomped to the employees' room. After a few minutes, she came out wearing her usual street clothes. "I quit." She tossed her uniform at her manager's face and casually walked out of the place waving her middle finger at him.

—————

**DiNG DONG.**

Hotaru rushed to the door and found an upset Mikan on her doorstep. "Mikan? Aren't you supposed to be at work still? It's only four o'clock."

"I got fired," the brunette mumbled.

"What? Say that again, I didn't quite catch what you said." Hotaru smirked.

"I got fired," Mikan said louder and more clearly.

"I thought so." Hotaru yawned and went back to her room and resumed what she was doing on the computer.

Mikan followed along. "Can I sleep here tonight? I left some of my stuff here last time I stayed."

"Sure," Hotaru said, not bothering to look at Mikan. She was busy picking which pictures of people to print to black mail them, use them in any way she wanted, or for money.

"Aren't you going to say anything about me being fired??" Mikan pouted.

"No," Hotaru replied monotonously. "I've taken care of that already. Just get dressed after school tomorrow and be here no later than four."

"Really?? Hotaru you're so great! I love you!!" Mikan got ready to spring onto Hotaru for a hug but was shot down by Hotaru's baka gun, version 2.1. Hey, she may not be an Alice in this story, but she's still a genius.

"Itai... Big meanie," Mikan wailed as she sat up on the floor and rubbed her forehead, where the baka gun's bullet had hit her, leaving a big circle mark.

Hotaru smiled one of her rare smiles and turned away so Mikan wouldn't notice. _You baka. _

"Mikan," Hotaru spun around her computer chair and looked at the brunette blankly.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"You have to take this job seriously or else I'm not helping you out anymore. I'm serious. You've either been fired or quit too many jobs already, and if I find out that you don't take this job seriously, I'm really not going to help you anymore. This is a good opportunity and this job was somewhat hard to get so do your best, okay? Besides, it has really good pay."

"Okay..." Mikan looked at Hotaru with caring eyes, showing that she would listen to whatever her best friend had to say.

"Good. Your working hours are about the same; it says here... That it's from three forty to eight o'clock at night."

"Ehhh, that's like an hour more than the restaurant!"

"Stop complaining, you baby."

"Hmph. You're lucky Hotaru, you can live by yourself and get as much money as you want because your family owns a really good company." Mikan pouted and sat up straight.

Hotaru just looked at her briefly and went back to doing what she was on her computer.

_Silence._

After a couple of minutes, (more like seconds) "So, what are you doing??" Mikan got up and poked her nose into Hotaru's business, looking at what she was doing on the computer. She shrugged. _I don't like it when it's quiet with me and Hotaru.. It feels... weird._

"Ahhh!!" Mikan squealed. "Hotaru!! When did you take those pictures?!" the brunette turned bright pink seeing quite a few pictures of her and Ruka taken. And in those pictures, they looked really close. As if they were a couple or something.

"Oh. I took it today when you were busy talking to him and imagining whatever you were in your head."

"Aaaw, you took them for me? You're so sweet!!"

"Oh. I think you got the wrong idea, baka." Hotaru had that scheming look on her face again, and an 'I-have-a-plan' grin was on her face. "_These _are for my benefit, Mikan. To blackmail Ruka. Or I could cut you out of the pictures and sell all these pictures of Ruka to other girls." Her grin grew even wider. "Unless... That is, unless you would pay me 10,000 yen for all these pictures and they'd be yours, and you could do whatever you wanted with them."

"Come onnnn! Hotaruuuuu!!" Mikan whined. "Isn't there anything else I can do to get those pictures?" Mikan pleaded. I guess she was really desperate to get those pictures or maybe that's just how much she was crushing on Nogi Ruka.

"Anything?" Hotaru arched an eyebrow.

"Anything."

"Alright. I want you to get to know more about Hyuuga Natsume."

"Hyuuga ...Natsume? You mean that rich, anti-social kid that all the girls are drooling over? That Natsume? The heir to the Hyuuga Corporation? The one that's around Ruka most of the time in school? You want me to get close to him?"

"Yes, that Hyuuga Natsume, and yes, I want you to get close to him."

"Why?"

"Do you want the pictures or not?" Hotaru snapped.

"Yes, yes! I want them! I'll do it! I'll get close to Hyuuga Natsume."

"Okay. They're all yours."

"Yay!" Mikan smiled widely that it reached up to her ears. "So can you print it and send it to me?"

"Sending is free. If you want me to print it you have to pay another 2,000 yen."

"Hotaru!!"

—————

Mikan sat down on her chair and looked at the back of the classroom. _They're here already. _She thought as she observed the mysterious Hyuuga Natsume and her beloved Ruka. _Yosh! If I get close to Natsume then that means that I'll be close to Ruka most of the time too. Hehe, this is perfect! _The brunette snickered and got up from her seat to go talk to the two boys.

"Hey Ruka. Good morning." Mikan smiled sweetly. "And hi, uhm, Hyuuga-san, right?"

"Good morning, M-Mikan." Ruka smiled and blushed a little. "And yeah, this is Natsume."

Mikan giggled. "Ruka, you know you're smile is really huge right now." That made Ruka blush even more. "It's cute." Mikan smiled sweetly.

Natsume looked up from manga and stared at Mikan. He remembered what he had asked his dad last night.

_"Otou-san does the name Sakura Mikan mean anything to you or does it ring a bell?"_

_"Hm?" Natsume's father eyed his son and tried to think about the name. "Actually, I think it does. Isn't she dead? I think that was the name of the daughter of Azumi Yuka and Yukihara Izumi, but I don't know why she doesn't have the same last name as her parents. Maybe it's from her grandfather, the original owner of their company. __Azumi Yuka and Yukihara Izumi__ were the owners of the Sakura Industries. Didn't she die in a plane crash along with her parents? Why are you asking?"_

_"Nothing. There's this girl in my class with the same name. Brown eyes, brown hair, I don't know." Natsume shrugged._

_Natsume's father went to a huge stack of magazines and after some time got a magazine and flipped through the pages. "Does she look like this?" He showed her a picture of Mikan when she was just a little girl; probably when she was about two or three._

_"Yeah."_

_"Natsume, I want you to get close to this girl. Get to know her more, alright? It might benefit the company in a way. That's an order."_

_"Yes, otou-san."_

"Yo," he said briefly and returned to reading his book. _How the hell am I supposed to get to know this girl more? I'm not good with people or friendship crap. But she does seem interesting... _A small smirk formed on his lips, but of course, no one could see since his manga was covering his face.

"Hey can you help me with this math problem from the homework, I didn't quite get it and I heard you were really good in math, Hyuuga-san." Mikan said in an attempt to get at least a little friendship points with this guy. But the raven haired boy just grunted in return.

Mikan sweat dropped. _What an unsociable guy. Was that grunt supposed to be a yes or no?_

"Ah, Mikan, if you need I can try to help you if you want," Ruka offered.

The brunette's eyes twinkled as soon as she heard those words. "Okay. Let me go get my stuff."_ Yesss! He wants to help me outtt. He's so sweeeet. And kind. And caring. _

Ruka chuckled at the sight of the cheerful Mikan. _She's so irresistible..._

Mikan opened her notebook and put it on top of Ruka's desk, along with a pencil and eraser. "This one," she pointed out.

"Oh, that's easy. You just made a simple mistake here. Let me show you..." Ruka smiled and reached for the pencil when Natsume grabbed it instead. Ruka sent a small glare at his best friend.

"Are you an idiot?" he asked rhetorically. "This is your mistake," he started erasing Mikan's work. "You used the wrong number for the _x _in _f(x)..._" He went on explaining.

Mikan wasn't really paying any attention. _Hmph. I wanted Ruka to teach me. I mean, it's not like I don't know the freakin' answer. I do. I made that stupid mistake on purpose to let **Ruka **teach me since I thought Hyuuga wouldn't do it._

"Oi! Are you listening?" Natsume said sharply and snapped the girl out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah! I'm listening." Mikan let out a nervous laugh. "Uhm, thanks alot for helping me out. I'll go back to my desk now."

"Hold up there, little girl." Natsume got up and pulled her hair. "You weren't paying attention to me. I'll make you regret and learn your lesson to make sure you don't do it again." He pulled her back to that she was in his reach.

"Natsume!" Ruka sent another glare his way.

But the ruby-eyed teenager ignored his best friend and leaned his face closer to Mikan's face.

"Okay class, take your seat now," the science teacher, Misaki-sensei said as he walked in the classroom.

Mikan rushed back to her seat. _What the hell was that? Was he about to kiss me? As a punishment? AND he did it in front of Ruka! What the eff.. _she thought and her face turned red, because of both anger and embarrassment. _Hotaru, you better have a good excuse for me trying to get to know this guy..._

—————

After school Mikan rushed home and had finally changed into semi-formal clothes for her new job after rummaging her closet for half an hour. And there she was now, standing on Hotaru's doorstep. She was about to ring the doorbell when Hotaru opened the door before Mikan got a chance to ring it. "You're actually on time. Let's go."

She flipped her cell phone open and clicked on speed dial number seven. "Hello? Mimasaka-san, we're ready to go." She hung up soon enough and looked at Mikan. "He'll be here in 2 minutes." She took a second look at Mikan and looked at her from head to toe, slowly. "You look... Good. And somewhat professional." She smiled. "Thanks for taking this seriously, Mikan-chan. And you can't complain about this job. Or else."

A black Rolls Royce car stopped in front of the house in approximately two minutes. A man in a navy blue driver's uniform stepped out of the driver's seat and opened the back door for the two girls. "Good afternoon, Imai-sama, Sakura-sama."

"Hey Mimasaka-san. It's been a while." Mimasaka was Hotaru's personal driver. She could have him drive her anywhere she wanted at anytime.

Hotaru hopped into the back seat and so did Mikan.

"To the Miss Beryl restaurant." Hotaru said. "Mikan, your job is pretty much the same as your old job. Except with more class and that you'll be working for not common people but people higher than average in wealth. One of the reasons they chose you was because you've had so many jobs at restaurants that they figured that you'd be good with handling people."

"W-Wait, you mean I'm working at _the _Miss Beryl restaurant?! The four star restaurant??" Mikan's jaw dropped open. "No way."

"You're getting paid about sixty thousand yen per week. And that's not counting the bonuses and tips. And it's only a part-time job."

"Oh. My. GAWD."

"Anyway, we're here. It's not far from your house or school so you can take a cab or the bus or train or something."

Mikan got out of the car followed by Hotaru.

"Yo." Natsume was standing in front of the restaurant with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"Hyuuga?" Mikan tilted her head. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh and Mikan," Hotaru added, "Hyuuga Natsume is your new boss."

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**Review!**

**Flames are highly accepted.**

**-Twinkly**


	3. What?

**Author's Note: Hi guys. I wonder how many months it's been since I last updated this story... Sorry D: I'm really, very sorry. I just kind of had a writer's block and was stressed out because of all the college apps and stuff... I was supposed to update it way back in November. But anyway, On with the story :) Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Much to my dismay, I do not and will not own Gakuen Alice.  
**

* * *

-

**Chapter Three: What?  
**

-

_Oh. My. GOD. Hyuuga-san is my new boss?!? _Mikan stared at the young man before her, her mouth hanging open. "H-Hi, Hyuuga-san."

"Well, I'll be going now. Good luck, Mikan." Hotaru was already safe inside the car, safe from Mikan's questions and whining. Mikan watched as the car drove away and disappeared, just like that.

"So, Hyuuga-san—I mean, Boss, please take care of me," the brunette bowed in front of him politely.

He walked through the opened sliding doors of the restaurant and Mikan followed him, both of them not uttering a single word. _It feels so awkward. I'm still upset that it looked like he was about to kiss me in front of Ruka... _

Inside the restaurant there were quite a number of people already, and it wasn't even the busy hours of the restaurant. It would be bustling with people later on, around dinner time. It was very spacious inside so being crowded wasn't a problem. The sounds of eating utensils gently colliding with each other could be heard, small chatter all around people socializing with each other, and soft music played in the background. Natsume led Mikan into the employees' room and gave Mikan her uniform and other things she would need and pointed out which locker was hers so she could put in her stuff there. (Yes, they had lockers.)

"Kanae!" He called out.

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama?" A feminine voice answered. Soon enough, a woman with straight, platinum blond hair and green eyes appeared out of nowhere with a huge, flirtatious smile on her face. Upon seeing Mikan, her smile turned into a jealous frown. Her name was Hoshino Kanae, the manager of the place. She was around twenty-two years of age; six years older than Mikan.

Natsume looked at her with boredom and introduced Mikan to her. "Kanae, this is Sakura Mikan. She'll be working here from today on."

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama." The flirtatious smile was plastered back onto her face. "Is there anything else that you need me for?"

"No, that's it," he said and turned to leave. "And Sakura, call me by my name, not 'Boss.' It's Hyuuga Natsume, in case you didn't know or whatever," he whispered with a touch of sarcasm so that Mikan would be the only one who could hear him, but Kanae heard what he said, crystal clear.

"Sakura-san, can you hurry up? We need you to serve the customers as soon as possible. Don't just stand there idly," the blonde snapped and left the room.

_What's with her? _Mikan thought and started to undress and change into her uniform. _Ugh... I have a feeling that I won't do so well with this job... _

———

The first thing Mikan did when she entered the classroom was search the room for her best friend. She spotted her. "Hotaru-chan!" Mikan cried and jumped onto her best friend.

Hotaru looked at Mikan with a blank stare. "What now?" She thought that it probably had something to do with her new job. Mikan could be so easy to read at times. Other times, she could be totally unpredictable and unstable. That's why Hotaru found her interesting: she was really different from the average teenager.

"New job," Mikan sniffled. "Horrible..."

"I thought so."

Mikan sighed. "But can you believe that I got 6,000 yen just from tips yesterday? Those people have money—_A LOT_ of money." The customers were really nice and were much more different from the customers that she served at the places that she previously worked at, the work that she had to do wasn't that difficult and was pretty much the same as her previous job, but most of her female co-workers were absolutely _horrible. _With the exception of a few of the female workers there, all of them looked at Mikan with scorn and contempt. Especially the manager, Hoshino Kanae. She was the worst. She kept bossing Mikan around, telling her to "hurry up" and "do a better job."

"You promised to take the job seriously."

"I know that, Hotaru. And I am taking it seriously. All I'm saying is that it's horrible... Kind of... Especially the manager. She reminds me so much of-"

"Good morning everyone!" An overly loud feminine voice said, interrupting Mikan's sentence. It was none other than Koizumi Luna. "The prettiest and smartest girl in Alice Academy is now here," she announced. Truth be told, Luna wasn't the prettiest or the smartest girl in Alice Academy. But she _probably _was one of the prettiest and smartest girls there. Not to mention, the bossiest and the most conceited.

"Speak of the devil," Mikan continued. Her manager reminds her of Koizumi Luna. They're both blond and have the exact same hair style, they're both obnoxious, they're both conceited, they're both annoying, and they both go gaga over Hyuuga Natsume! "Holy crap..." _No, they can't be related, _Mikan tried to force herself to think that it was utterly impossible for the two idiots to be related. But she just couldn't let go of the idea. They both just seemed so... Similar, as if they were clones or something, except one was older than the other.

Natsume walked into the room with Ruka by his side.

"Natsume-kun!" Luna instantly rushed over to him. "Good morning!"

She received no reply from Natsume, like usual. He just passed by her as if he didn't even see her or hear her at all. Her existence was of no importance to him. In fact, her existence was nothing but a nuisance to him. He was making his way to his seat in the back of the classroom when he saw _her _brown hair. He formed a smug smile and headed toward her seat instead of his.

"Natsume?" Ruka looked at Natsume with puzzlement.

"Yo," he said once again, appearing before Mikan's eyes. He caressed her soft brown hair and took a few strands of her hair and kissed it. "It smells like strawberries." His lips formed an amused grin.

Mikan blushed at his actions. "Hyuuga!" She snatched the strands of hair that was in his hand. But was about to smack him but stopped, remembering that he was her boss. "Please refrain from doing such things, Hyuuga-san," she said instead. She shouldn't anger him. She needed that job really bad and she promised Hotaru that she would take it seriously; if she didn't and got fired after one day, Hotaru wouldn't help her anymore and she'd be at a loss of what to do.

Ruka on the other hand, watched the scene with anger. He approached Natsume and Mikan. "Natsume, let's go sit, okay?" He said, placing a firm grip on Natsume's shoulder. Ruka wasn't the only jealous one; Luna also saw what happened and was fuming. There were also Natsume's other fan girls.

"No," Natsume replied in a straight forward manner. Ruka's grip on his friend's shoulder became even tighter.

"I want this girl right here to come and sit with us," he said. He was determined to make the brunette in front of him agree and sit with him in the back. He was sure that the teachers wouldn't mind, since he is, after all, the richest kid in the academy. And we all know that money equals power.

Mikan looked at Hotaru, pleading for help. She didn't want to sit in the back with Natsume, who was her boss. She wanted to sit next to Hotaru. But then again, she could sit near Ruka if she sat in the back as well... Her chocolate brown eyes lingered on Hotaru, waiting for her to say something, but Hotaru just gave her a look saying, "I'm not involved in this" and turned away. Mikan sighed in defeat.

She tried to think of as many excuses as possible. "Ah, the teachers won't agree," Mikan said, trying to discourage Natsume.

"They will," Natsume stated matter-of-factly.

"I have bad eye sight and can't sit any further than my current seat, sorry."

"You're lying. I saw you read the small sign in the restaurant yesterday when you were far from it."

"Uhm..." She tried to think of something else to say. "Ruka might not agree with me sitting there," she said sheepishly and looked in a different direction, trying to hide her blush.

"No! I'm completely fine with it, Mikan," Ruka said, also averting his gaze.

Natsume looked at Mikan then and Ruka and back. _What the hell? _He was beginning to get annoyed for some reason. He was about to say, "forget it," but Mikan said something first and agreed to sit in the back with them. She got her book bag and took her things out of her desk, bringing them to the empty seat in the back next to Ruka.

_I guess it won't be so bad, _she thought. _I'll be sitting next to Ruka anyway, not Natsume... _

As if hearing her thoughts, Natsume said, "You're not sitting in the empty desk. That's Ruka's seat from now on. You're sitting in Ruka's old seat. _In between us_."

"B-but," Mikan tried to protest.

"It's alright with you, right, Ruka?" He looked at the blue-eyed blonde with a threatening expression, earning him a "Sure, why not," from Ruka.

Mikan sighed in disappointment. She really didn't want to sit next to Natsume. Even though Hotaru told her to get to know Natsume more, she didn't want to. Natsume seemed like the worst person to get along with, (aside from Luna, girls like her, and her fan boys), since he was _so _anti-social, unfriendly, and unconsciously bossy.

There they were seated now, Natsume next to the window on the left side of the room, Mikan to his right, in the middle of him and Ruka, and Ruka to Mikan's right. She felt like she was in a sandwich, between a guy who she really dislikes and a guy who she really likes.

A yellow-haired youthful-looking teacher entered the classroom and greeted, "Good morning, my precious students!" It was Narumi-sensei, the English and arts teacher. It was rare to see him in class. "Today, I'll be teaching you! Isn't that great?" Almost the whole class groaned, but Mikan was happy that was going to teach them for once. Especially today. She wanted to focus on the lesson and get rid of the awkwardness already, but he only made it worse.

They were supposed to act a part of William Shakespeare's play, _Romeo and Juliet, _but taking place during the present, and they were supposed to use their own words and in groups of three. Mikan was stuck with Natsume and Ruka because they were the ones who sat with her.

———

The group stood on the stage in the auditorium, since it was their turn to present; with Ruka as Romeo, Mikan as Juliet, and Natsume as the narrator since he didn't want to act anything out. They were in the auditorium since Narumi always takes things overboard. He even forced his students to dress up as the characters that they were acting.

Natsume stood in front of the closed curtain, dressed in his normal street clothes. "Act II, Scene II. It is night time and Romeo has come to visit Juliet once again," he said plainly and left the stage. The curtains were opened slowly, revealing Mikan in a white dress, standing on the balcony (she was actually just standing on stairs and the rest were props) and Ruka was standing on the ground, dressed in... A black tuxedo.

"Juliet," Ruka said, raising his hand and looking at Mikan. He thought that she looked beautiful in the dress, even though they just had to act a small part of the play. "Oh, Juliet, I swear my love for you by the great, shining moon above us."

Mikan put on an expression of sadness and turned her back to him. Even though she had a sad expression on her face, she was actually kind of happy and embarrassed since she was playing as Ruka's lover, and she thought that he looked even better in a tux. "Romeo, why do you say that? Please don't swear your love to me by the moon... The moon which is ever-so changing... Please do not swear your love to me on behalf of the beautiful moon, unless your love for me is changing as well..."

What Mikan said is based on:

"_O swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon,  
That monthly changes in her circled orb,  
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable."_

Mikan turned around and was now facing Ruka, her eyes brimming with tears. Her countenance seemed even sadder than it had earlier, leaving Ruka speechless. _Mikan... _"Mikan, I-" He quickly closed his mouth, realizing what he just said.

_Mikan? The character's name is Juliet, not Mikan! _Natsume thought and looked at Ruka sternly.

"I know that your love for me isn't real, so just go away, Romeo!" Mikan completely forgot what she was supposed to say and just made something up to finish the scene and cover up for Ruka. The curtains closed and a short applaude from the class was heard.

"Sorry Mikan," Ruka apologized. "I messed up because you looked so sad and... We might get a low grade, like a C or something..." He scratched his head, embarrassed for messing up.

"It's alright, Ruka. Don't be so hard on yourself." Mikan smiled sweetly at him, causing him to blush again.

"Y-Yeah... I guess you're right..."

"Not, it's not alright. Ruka, now you have to wear this bunny costume for the rest of the day," Natsume said, appearing out of nowhere and holding up a bunny costume that would perfectly fit Ruka. Where exactly did he get it? Well, they were in the dressing room where all the costumes were, so it wasn't that hard to find.

"It's that a bit... Too much?" Mikan asked, feeling bad for Ruka. But she also didn't want to go against Natsume since he was emitting bad vibes.

"No. You're going to wear it, aren't you, Ruka?"

"S-Sure..."

Mikan looked at Ruka with sympathy. _Poor Ruka... I wonder how he became friends with Natsume... He just seems to bully Ruka all the time... _She sighed, knowing that her relationship with her best friend was somewhat similar to theirs. She then wondered if Ruka and herself were masochists, being tortured by their best friends but still remaining friends with each other... She felt sorry for Ruka, also knowing that Hotaru would take a million pictures of him in his bunny costume and sell them for thousands of yen.

The day seemed to take longer than usual to end. When the last bell of the school day rung, Mikan quickly began to pack her things and rushed out of the classroom. The sound of the bell was like music to her ears; she thought, _Goodbye, you dreaded hell hole! _

When she arrived at the gates to leave the school, she found Natsume standing there. She was about to make a run for it, but he grabbed her once again and threw her into his limousine.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To work, of course."

* * *

**Author's Note: I know that this chapter wasn't too good, but still... Hope you guys liked it.  
**

**Review please!  
**

**Flames are highly accepted.**

**-Aimee**


End file.
